AFL 2016 finals

Didn't see the doggies beating WCE coming , but just watched the Hawthorne Geelong game tonight . Normally I don't get that involved unless I'm watching the swans , but .... that was one great game of AFL .

I think the swans are looking good at this stage . The only possible cloud IS the number of relatively inexperienced players at the moment , however Mills , Alir Alir ( the new fans favourite ) , The X factor , Papley , Nankervis , Hewitt and Marsh have been playing like 100 game veterans for a while .

With Parker , Hannerbery , kennedy , jack you have probably the most experienced midfield ticking over ( with the possible exception of the hawks , but they aren't looking quite as sharp this year ) .

Throw in Buddy , Tippett , Heeney and Benny ( a man on a mission to win a premiership after missing in 2012 due to injury ) up front and three of the best defenders running around in nick smith , Rampe and Grundy .

One big difference this year compared to last year is the relative lack of injuries , but they do have experienced players waiting for their chance . Zac Jones would definitely be their if he hadn't been injured a few weeks ago . He's as a hard nut as his other brother , though not as many Tatts , Cunningham was unlucky to get dropped for mills , and teddy and Laidler are good key defenders to have up your sleeve .

They've just got to get past GWS who are the only team to beat them comprehensively this year , in particular the big mummy ........

The swans rookies didn't stand up but neither did their midfield or their forwards and they made some clanger turnovers . I've rarely seen such of a lack of composure by a swans teams under pressure , and they were put unde pressure

As noted before , GWS were the only team to comprehensively beat the swannies this season .

One question will be whether GWS loose Mummy and Stevie J for the next game and if they do they will be vulnerable in the next game . Their actions effectively took Tippett out of the game which impacted the swans performance , so I have no problems if that happens .

Another question is whether GWS have just played their grand final ...

The main thing the swans can take away is they didn't play well and they rarely play badly two weeks in a row so they can only go up ...... Hopefully .....

Mills probably out with a hammy , but if Zac jones comes in he adds an element of toughness they were missing today .

I'm wondering with the break before the finals may turn out to be a negative for the winners . GWS and Geelong will go in with two weeks off in the preceeding three weeks where as their opposition will have had two games in a row to build up momentum .

I won't be surprised if we see a Hawks swans GF though this season has been one of the closest I can remember and GWS have to be a very realistic chance on their form this week

The swans have a habit of having to loose a game every so often to remind themselves not to be cocky and to be fully committed right from the get go to win the important games .

The usual pattern is for the first week losers to reverse the roles the next week so I'd expect Geelong vs Swans and GWS vs Hawks .

From an outsiders point of view it's been a very entertaining week of footy. It's been fantastic seeing the underdogs get up.. Would have liked to have seen the Roos go a bit further but happy to see the crows advance.

Everyone's been wondering when the Hawks old brigade would run out of legs and it happened last night . Several times I saw Sam Mitchell getting caught with the ball , Loosing possession or having a kick smothered in situations which he would have got out of a year ago .

I'm wondering if we're seeing a changing of the guard ? The last ten years have been dominated by Geelong 3 , Hawthorne 3 " Sydney 2 with Collingwood and the Eagles chipping in for one each .

Again , last nights game was very entertaining for the neutral observer , though more from the level of pressure , rather than free flowing football .

I thought the Geelong Hawthorne was actually better football , but maybe that's because of the pressure the dogs applied .

So we'll have one the the established finalists ( Geelong or the Swans ) verses a Newbie .

The swans beat Geelong comfortably in their one clash in the Season , looking at the results , it was Geelong's biggest lose of the season . While Geelong have probably have the best midfielder in the comp , they don't have the depth the swans have . I'm more confident about the swans beating Geelong than I was about Adelaide .

Interestingly there's only one team the swans haven't beaten this season and that the bulldogs ........

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